Description

Offshore wind is expected to become a long-term growth engine for the wind industry in Europe as suitable onshore sites become increasingly hard to find, especially in the well-developed wind power markets such as Germany and Denmark. Conventional offshore wind technology, however, is restricted to shallow waters of above 30m at present and potentially 50-80m in the future since when it moves deeper cost of fixed foundation becomes prohibitive. For deeper sea beds a floating wind technology is being developed and tested. Having been research by academics for a number of years, it has recently moved into large-scale prototype testing and is increasingly viewed as a potentially viable alternative to the conventional offshore wind technology.